TRACING JOSEPH AUGUSTUS ZARELLI’S FAMILY

JOSEPH AUGUSTUS ZARELLI, January 13, 1953 - February 1957

On the morning of December 8, 2022, the Philadelphia Police Department and its partners held a press conference releasing the name of “The Boy In The Box” — a four year boy who was murdered and discarded in a cardboard box on Susquehanna Road off of Pine Road in the far Northeast section of the city 65 years ago.

Joseph Augustus Zarelli was born January 13, 1953. At 10:40 a.m. on February 26, 1957 police located the deceased boy with clear signs of blunt force trauma and past abuse. The boy had multiple bruises and was malnourished at the time of his death. No one reported the child missing.

Police search the crime scene. My old friend Sam Weinstein (1926 - 2004) was the second officer on the scene. Weinstein talked to me about the case and his work with Vidocq and the initial exhumation of Joseph for DNA in 1998. Weinstein said they had leads on the case but remained tight-lipped.

Captain Jason Smith of the police Homicide Division provided some clues as his unit works on the case. Smith stated that the family was from West Philadelphia in the area of 61st and Market Streets. Earlier, William Fleisher of the Vidocq Society remarked that it was a “prominent family” from Delaware county.

A little genealogy research may have shed light on some of the circumstances surrounding Joseph’s death. Here is what is available based on public records available through census records and newspaper sources:

Agostino Zarelli (born September 19, 1896, Lucera, Italy; died August 3, 1970) and his wife emigrated from Naples, Italy and arrived in Philadelphia via the vessel Napoli on April 16, 1913. He was married to Jennie G. (born Giovanninia Saraco on November 15, 1896; died June 10, 1969).

Initially arriving in the United States as a mechanic, Agostino “Gus” Zarelli founded a construction business in 1938. He was joined by his two sons, one a concrete contractor and the other an excavation contractor. Their sons were Augustus “Gus” Zarelli (born June 30, 1926) and Michael Louis Zarelli (born June 23, 1928). Agostino died June 3, 1970. Agostino and Jennie also had three daughters Palma Lagamba, Catherine Mieczkowski and Mary C. Stuardi.

From at least 1920 until they died, the couple lived at 6352 Callowhill St. — in the vicinity of 61st and Market Streets.

Until 1953, the business was listed as “Registered Contractor, A. Zarelli” in newspapers. The firm was formerly known as “A. Zarelli Construction Co.” of Broomall, Pa. In 1989, the firm was based in Newtown Square.

The family business grew to prominence as the below article shows:

Philadelphia Inquirer March 9, 1990 article noting that the family patriarch Zarelli had two sons, “One is a concrete contractor, and the other is an excavation contractor.”

Joseph is connected to the Zarelli family with patriarch Agostino Zarelli. As the research shows, this family moved from West Philadelphia to Delaware county. Confirming this connection is the Inquirer’s investigation of Justin Thomas. The Inquirer reported, “Justin Thomas, 40, who lives in Northeast Pennsylvania, unwittingly provided important evidence. Thomas, whose family is related to Joseph’s family, said Thursday he took an at-home DNA test five years ago.”

Thomas stated that his family relocated from West Philadelphia to Delaware county.

On December 14, 2022, reporter Max Marin of the Philadelphia Inquirer contacted me and stated that the Inquirer first broke the story of Justin Thomas. Like many researchers over the years, the media has been seeking to find out who Joseph’s parents are. Marin was very helpful and related details of the Inquirer’s investigation and verified that Justin is the son of Keith Thomas and Donna, the daughter of Mary C. Stuardi. Agostino Zarelli’s death notice lists Mary C. Stuardi as his daughter. Then, based on his knowledge of the Justin Thomas story, Marin urged excluding Agostino’s children and their known spouses as potential parent sets with the exception that one of the male Zarelli family members may have had a child prior to marriage or outside marriage. He suggested the possibility that Agostino is Joseph’s father.

If one of the male Zarelli’s had a child prior or outside their known marriages, this would support Homicide Captain Jason Smith’s statement at the press conference indicating that Joseph may have half-siblings, "At this point in time, we are not going to be releasing that [Joseph’s parents] information. Joseph has a number of siblings of both the mother and father's side who are living, and it is out of respect for them that their parents' information remain confidential," Smith said.

This scenario would also support Captain Smith’s statement that the DNA followed the maternal line in identifying the child and investigators subsequently located the father’s identity. This scenario may also explain why Joseph may have been targeted for abuse.

One source, who wishes to remain anonymous, urged researchers to examine the 1950 census records of families in the area of 61st and Market Streets that similarly relocated to Delaware county and garnered prominence. This source, who is from Delaware county, believes this research will reveal Joseph’s mother’s family.

Police knew that the bassinette was purchased at the J. C. Penney store at 69th and Market Streets (100 S. 69th St.) The store reported that it was one of a dozen it received on November 27, 1956 and sold by mid-February with the customers taking away the original carton. This store was local to the Zarelli family that lived in the area of 61st and Market Streets, or more specifically, at 6352 Callowhill Street.

December 29, 1974 photo of Joseph’s grave in the City cemetery at Mechanicsville and Dunks Ferry Roads. Photo taken at the time I regularly visited his grave.

I grew up in the Parkwood Manor section of Northeast Philadelphia. Every Saturday as a boy I would visit the boy’s grave in the city-owned cemetery on Dunks Ferry Road. The Parkwood community felt the boy belonged to them and they, along with retired medical examiner Bristow, took care of this “unknown boy.” The community felt slighted when the boy was removed to a private cemetery after he was first disinterred for DNA in 1998. Nowhere have I found anyone reaching out to this community to ask how they feel with the news of the boy’s identity. After all, they loved and cared for him for 41 years.

In 2005, I moved to the Pine Valley section of Philadelphia to raise my family in a larger single home. I soon discovered that I was living right down the street from where the boy was found. The development that included our house was under construction at the time of the boy’s discovery as shown in the above advertisement. Our house is identical to the above drawing. Samuel Bronstein was the builder. His son Robert Bronstein was our neighbor. Our house was sold in October 1957 and we are the second homeowners.

After they solicited tips, I notified the Philadelphia Police Department asking they look into the possibility that the A. Zarelli Construction Co. was a contractor working on our housing development.

In 1956, Bronstein began the construction of 300 homes in a development called “Pine Valley Estates.” This development was bounded by Welsh Road (north), Pine Road (west), Verree Road (east) and Rhawn Street (south). Joseph Augustus Zarelli was found at the present address of 724 Susquehanna Road situated near the middle of this area as shown below. The arrow points at the location where my house is today near the intersection of Pine and Alburger roads. By the early sixties, Bronstein had acquired additional acreage and built a total of 544 homes.

Could someone have intended to dispose of Joseph at a construction site? One common method of disposing of a murder victim is to bury a body at a construction site. House foundations were under construction near where Joseph was found.

Map showing that the boy was found on Susquehanna Road just south of Pennypack Park. Philadelphia Inquirer February 27, 1957.

Could the plan to dispose of the body at a construction site gone awry? Did someone close to the child leave the construction site area, on the north side of Pennypack Park, and travel to Susquehanna Road, on the south side of Pennypack Park, to dispose of the child? Did someone purposely leave the cardboard box, containing Joseph, in the woods but visible from the road wanting him to be found and given a decent burial. There were indications that someone may have attempted to prepare Joseph’s body for a funeral. Could someone who loved Joseph not bear the child being buried at a construction site without anyone ever knowing he existed?

Arrow shows location of the cardboard box containing the boy at the crime scene. The box is visible from the road. Homes were built here in 1967.

Initial newspaper reports state that examination of the child indicated Joseph was dead for two or three days. This corroborates witness John Powroznik, 18, of Susquehanna Road who said he initially found the dead boy on Saturday, February 23rd. However, he was not sure of he had initially found the boy on the 23rd or the 24th.

Police located the body on February 26th shortly after it started raining. Rain began sometime between 6 a.m. and 7:30 a.m. that morning. The medical examiner, Dr. Joseph W Spelman, said he had been dead at least two or three days and possibly as long as two or three weeks. The weather limits this time frame to two weeks because it had not rained for 14 days according to Inquirer weather reports and there no news accounts of water damage to the cardboard box. The only report of rain was from Powroznik who said there was light drizzle on the 23rd when he saw the boy. This insignificant amount of rain was not reported in the Inquirer’s weather report.

A witness observed a woman acting suspiciously on the afternoon of Sunday, February 24, 1957 as reported below. The time frame was between 5:00 and 5:30 p.m. Sunset was at 5:47 p.m. This may have been at the time Joseph’s body was deposited at the crime scene but it could also have been someone doubling back to the crime scene a day later to tamper with the body to prevent identification, wrap him in a blanket, or to grieve the child one last time. In 1967, medical examiner Bristow said whomever left him in the box “did their best to prepare him for burial.” He said they cut his hair, trimmed his nails, closed his eyes and folded the boy’s arms across his stomach “gently and carefully.”

February 28, 1957 Philadelphia Inquirer. Lt. William Lovejoy was the supervisor at Northeast Detective Division. Years later, I worked with his son Sgt. John Lovejoy at this unit.

Homicide Division detectives serving as pallbearers at Joseph Augustus Zarelli’s burial on Dunks Ferry and Mechanicsville Roads. Philadelphia Inquirer July 25, 1957

I served 27 years with the Philadelphia Police Department and retired in 2019 at the rank of captain. For almost a decade, I was a detective with most of that time assigned to Northeast Detective Division. I remember hearing stories within the Department about the Boy In The Box. The Department and the District Attorney were focused on a woman from Ohio known only as the pseudonym “Mary.” As late as 2017, Fleisher believed this woman’s claim that Joseph was a black-market baby sold in the Kensington section of Philadelphia. Could this still be a viable theory if the child was born out of wedlock as the Philadelphia Inquirer asserts?

Joseph Augustus Zarelli’s grave at Ivy Hill Cemetery.

Captain Smith stated that authorities located Joseph’s Birth Certificate but he did not state that they located his Hospital Record of Birth. These are two separate record groups. Early homicide detectives and the medical examiner painstakingly compared Joseph’s footprints with Hospital Records of Birth containing baby footprints. This made sense since footprints are more direct evidence and offer the ability to obtain positive identification. However, the local hospital birth record would be easier to tamper with than the Birth Certificate filed with the Pennsylvania Vital Statistics Office.

There is value in redundancy by checking all available records pertaining to the same event. I suggest the media follow-up with authorities and ask them if they located Joseph’s hospital record of birth. An unsolved murder of a child is clearly in the public interest and demands relentless follow-up. Of note, only family members can request a copy of Joseph’s Birth Certificate.

I have also been a genealogist for over thirty years and appreciate the value of family research in aiding unsolved crimes. The 1960 U.S. federal census could have been a tool used to search for Joseph Augustine Zarelli’s family. In 1960, enumerators went door-to-door compiling family information. Joseph was born and died during the period between the 1950 and 1960 censuses and would not have appeared on either of them. However, the 1960 census family information could have been contrasted against the two birth record groups to detect discrepancies - such as an omission of a child. By law, individual census records are not released for 72 years. However, the police could have obtained access to these records per court order. The 1960 censes will be available to the public in 2032.

The public has now learned that in 1962 the headless body of a girl was recovered from the Schuylkill River. The child’s homicide remains unsolved. She was approximately the same age as Joseph Augustus Zarelli and was buried in the same City “pauper” cemetery on Dunks Ferry Road. I suggest the Police Department redouble their efforts to bring closure for this family as well. They can start by systematically reviewing all birth records for Black females at the approximate age of the “Girl in the Box” based on information received from the Medical Examiner. Birth Certificates and Hospital Records of Birth should be checked.

I thank the Department for releasing the boy’s name but Joseph should also have his family and parents, too. Without that, he only has partial identity. Police know who the parents are but won’t release the names. Releasing the parent’s names may encourage the families involved to come forward and claim him. While his death certificate was amended to give him his name, I wonder if Joseph’s death certificate was also revised to list the parents.

As for Joseph’s birth certificate, researchers may have to wait until 2058 as they are sealed for 105 years. Only relatives can request a copy before then.

I mentioned to Mr. Marin that the existing solvability factor of a birth certificate on file all this time shows that more should have been over the years. He dismissively remarked that the Department may not have wanted to expend the manpower and there were over two thousand unsolved murders. The actual figures are 1,855 unsolved and 287 solved. Nonetheless, I told him that I believe each one is someone’s child and deserves the effort.

As this is an on-going story, this blog post will be updated when new information becomes available. We thank the Philadelphia Inquirer for sharing their information as well as other sources that have come forward.

TRACING JOSEPH AUGUSTUS ZARELLI’S FAMILY

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